Bassick, Harding get approval on jump to CSC by league principals

HARTFORD — It started in March with an exploratory phone call from Bridgeport citywide athletic director Neil Kavey to Constitution State Conference commissioner Jim Day. It grew more serious following a face-to-face meeting at the Connecticut Athletic Directors Conference later the same month. Now, it’s close to official.

Bassick and Harding’s move from the FCIAC to the CSC was approved Thursday morning in a vote by CSC principals. To become official, the Bridgeport Board of Education has to ratify the vote.

Members of the FCIAC since 1993, the two Bridgeport schools would become members of the CSC beginning in the 2015-16 school year. The move would bring the CSC to 23 schools, with Classical Magnet set to jump to the NCCC.

“We’ve made a lot of friendships through the years with other schools,” Kavey said, referring to the FCIAC. “We thank them for their support. They’ve always been very generous with us, very supportive for us.”

The move is expected to level the playing field for many of the Bridgeport schools’ teams after years of non-competiveness in the FCIAC. Outside of boys basketball — Bassick and Harding have combined to win four of the last nine FCIAC titles — teams at the two Bridgeport schools have consistently finished at the bottom of the FCIAC.

“We think it could be a new day in sports for these teams after a long period of futility,” Kavey said.

Day believes that the addition of Bassick and Harding would not only improve the league’s standing in sports like basketball, but it would give the CSC “greater diversity.”

“We have magnet schools, we have public schools, we have tech schools,” Day said. “This gives us two more public schools.”